John Calvin on Prayer by Sproul
Image via Wikipedia Perhaps no theologian of the church has been more viciously maligned by critics than John Calvin . Scurrilous distortions of his character have portrayed him as being stern, severe, unfeeling, rigid, and austere. So widespread and deeply entrenched is this caricature that I tread in fear and trembling when I assign readings from the Institutes of the Christian Religion to my seminary students. To cut through the false mask of Calvin, I ask my students to begin reading the Institutes not at chapter 1 but at book III, chapter 20. This is Calvin’s treatment of prayer —a classic study not only in this godly exercise on faith but of Calvin himself. It reveals a man whose heart soars in adoration , a man who has a passion to be pleasing to God . For Calvin prayer was like a priceless treasure that God has offered to His people: To prayer, then, are we indebted for penetrating to those riches which are treasured up for us with our heavenly Father . For there is a